This week we’ve learned that 64 year old actor and director Mel Gibson has been battling coronavirus since April, resulting in a case severe enough to be hospitalized. A spokesperson for the actor announced that “He tested positive in April and spent a week in the hospital. He was treated with the drug Remdesivir, while in the hospital, and has tested negative numerous times since then as well as positive for the antibodies.” Gibson was treated in Los Angeles.
Gibson appears to have made full recovery since he was pictured walking in Malibu in July. He is one of handful of stars who have contracted COVID-19 earlier this year, including Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, Daniel Dae Kim, and Olga Kurylenko.
Gibson is best known for 1995 historical war film Braveheart, which won a series of Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, among others. In 2017, he landed six Oscar nominations, including for best director, for Hacksaw Ridge, a World War II feature he also directed. In more recent projects, Gibson also had a supporting role in Daddy’s Home 2.
However, despite these previous accolades, Gibson fell out of positive public opinion in Hollywood during the early 2000s for his drunken anti-Semitic and misogynist rants, which he described as “despicable” remarks when arrested for the DUI. He also used racial slurs in audio recordings of a fight with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, which was published in 2010.
Even though he is active professionally, Gibson’s personal reputation continues to tank. The actor made recent headlines after Winona Ryder accused him of making anti-Semitic and homophobic comments to her at a party a decade ago in a June interview with The Sunday Times. Gibson responded to her allegations, calling them “100% untrue.”
Leave a Comment